The Independent: Johanna Hamilton documentary reveals how citizen burglars broke into FBI office and exposed huge abuse and public surveillance

But more than 40 years ago they were involved in an unlikely, unprecedented break-in at an FBI office and the release to the media of thousands of pages of documents that revealed staggering institutional abuse. Their effort to reveal the extent of government snooping preceded by four decades that of National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

The eight members of the group, which called itself the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI, were never identified, despite a huge man-hunt, and they swore themselves to secrecy. These days, few people even know about the break-in.

Last year the veil slipped, at least for some of them, with the publication of a book by the Washington Post journalist who in 1971 was the first to publish the information the group obtained. Now, the five members of the group who have been identified and their remarkable story is to receive a wider audience with the release in the US this weekend of the documentary 1971 by British filmmaker Johanna Hamilton. [READ FULL ARTICLE HERE]